Man jailed for conning doctor out of over £200k

Phone fraudster fronted gang of criminals

A Hamilton fraudster who fronted a crime gang that used a simple con to dupe a doctor into handing over his £263,000 savings has been jailed for more than two years.

Mark Miller was part of a group that used the phone trick to help fund exotic trips and a luxurious lifestyle.

The 28-year-old bought two jet skis for £12,500 and registered them to Loch Lomond.

He was caught on CCTV buying ipads, a TV and foreign currency at a string of shops in and around Glasgow.

Dad-of-one Miller headed the scheme that raked in almost £360,000 and conned a further five people out of cash.

Miller pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court along with Karla Bainbridge (37) from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire to, while acting with others, being part of the £359,473 fraud between December 2013 and April 2014.

Last Friday Sheriff Martin Jones QC told Miller he was “in the most serious position” and jailed him for 28 months. Single mum-of-two Bainbridge was given a community order with 200 hours unpaid work and will be tagged for six months to stay at home between 7pm and 7am.

John Paul Currid, (34) from Invergordon, admitted being involved in the part of the scheme that defrauded Dr Ian Hunter of £263,356 and will be sentenced at a later date.

Calls were made to unsuspecting people who were lead to believe that there had been fraudulent activity on their accounts and handed over vital bank details.

It’s not known who made the calls, but phone numbers used were linked back to Miller.

In April 2014 Dr Hunter was contacted by someone claiming to be from the fraud department of Danske Bank.

Fiscal depute Richard Hill explained: “Dr Hunter was advised to hang up and call the bank back on the number on his card. Dr Hunter did this.

“However, he was unaware that the caller had not hung up the phone and proceeded to give details which led to his accounts being compromised.”

He added that Dr Hunter was later contacted by Danske Bank who told him that £263,356 had been taken from his accounts.

The money lost from all customers’ accounts was reimbursed by their banks.

Mr Hill said that during the period of the charges Miller bought two jet skis for £12,500 which were registered and used at Loch Lomond.

In March 2014, Miller paid £1932 for an all-inclusive holiday to Mexico for two people and during a search of his house in May that year, £10,000 and $2,090 was discovered.

Flash Miller also bought a range of Audi cars with a combined value of £29,750.

A number of other people bought thousands of pounds foreign currency after the money was transferred out of the victims’ accounts. Leigh O’neil, (27) Kevin Gallagher (27) Tracey Halliday (43) Tracey Cunningham (48) Margaret Irvine (48) Jamie Mcgowan (29) Carli Davidson (30) Miller’s sister Allana (22) and Raymond Mcmillan (41) all pled guilty to charges under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

All of the charges carry the aggravation of being connected to serious organised crime and they were each sentenced to community payback orders with varying conditions including unpaid work, supervision and tags except Gallagher who was jailed for four months.

Dr Hunter was advised to hang up and call the bank back on the number on his card... but he was unaware the caller had not hung up and proceeded to give details which led to accounts being compromised